Author: Marnie Griffith
Conditions for the dairy industry in northern Victoria over the past decade have been tough. High prices for feed inputs, especially when combined
with low farmgate milk prices, have seen situations where dairy farmers are losing money feeding cows. In this environment, it is natural to
consider whether culling in response to drought followed by replacement as conditions return to normal would leave farmers better off.
This working paper develops a methodology to quantitatively evaluate culling during drought conditions for the northern Victorian dairy industry.
The methodology is applied to two recent years of drought, 2002 03 and 2007 08. While higher feed costs provide reason to cull, this is largely
offset by lower cull prices and higher replacement heifer costs. Farmgate milk prices also play an important role.
The methodology was extended to consider a two-year drought. It was found that duration of the drought has a potentially large impact on optimal
culling response.
JEL classification: C61, Q15, Q25
Keywords: dairy system, optimal replacement, drought.
Working Paper Number G-200 can be downloaded in PDF format. To print this you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader.
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